Scheduling problems — An overview

There seems to be a significant gap between the theoretical and the practical aspects of scheduling problems in the job shop environment. Theoretically, scheduling systems are designed on the basis of an optimum approach to the scheduling model. However in the practice, the optimum that is built into the scheduling applications seems to face some challenges when dealing with the dynamic character of a scheduling system, for instance machine breakdown or change of orders. Scheduling systems have become quite complex in the past few years. Competitive business environments and shorter product life cycles are the imminent challenges being faced by many companies these days. These challenges push companies to anticipate a demand driven supply chain in their business environment. A demand-driven supply chain incorporates the customer view into the supply chain processes. As a consequence of this, scheduling as a core process of the demand-driven supply chain must also reflect the customer view. In addition, other approaches to solving scheduling problems, for instance approaches based on human factors, prefer the scheduling system to be more flexible in both design and implementation. After discussion of these factors, the authors propose the integration of a different set of criteria for the development of scheduling systems which not only appears to have a better flexibility but also increased customer-focus. This paper is partly supported by the National Science Funds for Distinguished Young Scholars No. 70125004 and NSFC Project No. 70072029 Asmuliardi Muluk is currently performing his PhD research in the Faculty of Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), Australia. Hasan Akpolat is a Senior Lecturer and the Acting Head of the Engineering Management Department in the Faculty of Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), Australia. Jichao Xu is a Visiting Professor at the UTS and a Professor of the Zhengzhou Institute of Aeronautics, Zhengzhou, Henan, P. R China.